Hits & Misses: Greeley really has made progress on the odor issue

Chancie Cavendish, code compliance officer with the city Greeley, uses the nasal ranger, a device that is designed to measure the intensity of smells while in downtown Greeley. Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com

This has long been a sore spot for folks who have lived in Greeley for a while, so we’d like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Greeley doesn’t smell (much) anymore.

The truth of the matter is that Greeley once did have a problem with odor. At one point, the smells associated with the primary industry that helped Greeley grow — agriculture — were a lot more prevalent in town, and folks noticed.

“The long and the short of it is that it was a big problem in the 1980s and 1990s, and city leaders and industry worked together to say, ‘We’re going to turn this around,'” said Community Development Director Brad Mueller. “Greeley hasn’t had feedlots in its city limits for over 20 years, and they’ve been illegal in the city for almost that long. So that has not been a reality for decades, and yet the world has a long collective memory.”

The efforts have made a difference. Greeley has an odor hotline residents can call to report something foul in the air. Back in 1997, for example, that hotline received 650 complaints. In 2017, it got just 30 complaints.

To be sure, there are industrial operations going on in the city — from agriculture and other sectors — and sometimes that can lead to a smell. But that’s essentially true of any city.

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We’re proud of the progress Greeley officials and industry leaders have made in addressing this issue and in changing the perception, even if the unfair reputation lingers a bit.

Michael Rourke right to agree to plea deal in Christopher Watts case

Prosecutors contend Watts killed his pregnant wife and two daughters, and then dumped their bodies at an oil and gas site near Hudson. It’s a horrific case.

One thing we’re thankful for, though, is the speedy resolution to the case. On Tuesday, Watts agreed to plead guilty to all nine counts against him, which means the case will come to a formal end later this month, bringing with it the opportunity for grieving family members to find closure.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, Rourke took the death penalty off the table. Watts faces the statutory sentences on the other five charges, which include two more counts of first-degree murder and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

This was the right decision. More importantly, Rourke made the decision the right way. He gave the family members of Shannan Watts as much of a say as possible in the decision. Frank and Sandra Rzucek, and her brother, Frank Jr. were strongly in favor of the deal.

To be sure, few criminals have been more deserving of the death penalty than the perpetrator of these horrific crimes. Still, the death penalty is uncertain in Colorado, and pursuing it at all cost would have caused the process to drag on — probably for decades — depriving the grieving the closure they need.

"I could not ask Sandra to commit the next 25 years of her life to the Colorado criminal justice system," Rourke said.

We’re glad to see justice done in this case. We’re glad too for the way in which it was done.

Pop Warner football team makes Greeley proud

The Greeley Bears Mitey-Mites Pop Warner football team has been on quite a run lately.

After completing a successful season last month, the team won its league championship Oct. 27 by beating the Castle Rock Knights before beating the Wardogs this past weekend in Aurora to take the state title.

The event — which has formal opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. followed by dinner, a silent auction, open bar, music and dancing — costs $45 and features a speech by retired Marine Lt. Gen. Carol A. Mutter, a graduate of Eaton High School and the University of Northern Colorado, who was the first woman to be promoted to major general and to be nominated to lieutenant general in the Marine Corps.

Our community is lucky enough to have many military veterans who call it home, and we love the idea of honoring the Marine veterans among them while ringing in another year for the Corps.

We thank them all for their service and hope that have a ball — both figuratively and literally — Saturday night.